The area dat now contains Arwington County was ceded to de new United States federaw government by Virginia. Wif de passage of de Residence Act in 1790, Congress approved a new permanent capitaw to be wocated on de Potomac River, de exact area to be sewected by U.S. President George Washington. The Residence Act originawwy onwy awwowed de President to sewect a wocation widin Marywand as far east as what is now de Anacostia River. However, President Washington shifted de federaw territory's borders to de soudeast in order to incwude de pre-existing city of Awexandria at de District's soudern tip. In 1791, Congress amended de Residence Act to approve de new site, incwuding de territory ceded by Virginia.[6] However, dis amendment to de Residence Act specificawwy prohibited de "erection of de pubwic buiwdings oderwise dan on de Marywand side of de River Potomac."[7] As permitted by de United States Constitution, de initiaw shape of de federaw district was a sqware, measuring 10 miwes (16 km) on each side, totawing 100 sqware miwes (260 km2). During 1791–92, Andrew Ewwicott and severaw assistants pwaced boundary stones at every miwe point. Fourteen of dese markers were in Virginia and many of de stones are stiww standing.[8]

1878 map of Awexandria County, now Arwington County

When Congress arrived in de new capitaw, dey passed de Organic Act of 1801 to officiawwy organize de District of Cowumbia and pwaced de entire federaw territory, incwuding de cities of Washington, Georgetown, and Awexandria, under de excwusive controw of Congress. Furder, de unincorporated territory widin de District was organized into two counties: de County of Washington to de east of de Potomac and de County of Awexandria to de west. It incwuded aww of de present Arwington County, pwus part of what is now de independent city of Awexandria.[9] This Act formawwy estabwished de borders of de area dat wouwd eventuawwy become Arwington but de citizens wocated in de District were no wonger considered residents of Marywand or Virginia, dus ending deir representation in Congress.[10]

Residents of Awexandria County had expected de federaw capitaw's wocation to resuwt in higher wand prices and de growf of commerce.[when?] Instead de county found itsewf struggwing to compete wif de Chesapeake and Ohio Canaw at de port of Georgetown, which was farder inwand and on de nordern side of de Potomac River next to de City of Washington, uh-hah-hah-hah.[11] Members of Congress from oder areas of Virginia awso used deir power to prohibit funding for projects, such as de Awexandria Canaw, which wouwd have increased competition wif deir home districts. In addition, Congress had prohibited de federaw government from estabwishing any offices in Awexandria, which made de county wess important to de functioning of de nationaw government.[12]

Awexandria had awso been a major market in de American swave trade, and rumors circuwated dat abowitionists in Congress were attempting to end swavery in de District; such an action wouwd have furder depressed Awexandria's swavery-based economy.[13] At de same time, an active abowitionist movement arose in Virginia dat created a division on de qwestion of swavery in de Virginia Generaw Assembwy. Pro-swavery Virginians recognized dat if Awexandria were returned to Virginia, it couwd provide two new representatives who favored swavery in de state wegiswature. During de American Civiw War, dis division wed to de formation of de state of West Virginia, which comprised de 55 counties in de nordwest dat favored abowitionism.[14]

Largewy as a resuwt of de economic negwect by Congress, divisions over swavery, and de wack of voting rights for de residents of de District, a movement grew to return Awexandria to Virginia from de District of Cowumbia. From 1840 to 1846, Awexandrians petitioned Congress and de Virginia wegiswature to approve dis transfer known as retrocession. On February 3, 1846, de Virginia Generaw Assembwy agreed to accept de retrocession of Awexandria if Congress approved. Fowwowing additionaw wobbying by Awexandrians, Congress passed wegiswation on Juwy 9, 1846, to return aww de District's territory souf of de Potomac River back to Virginia, pursuant to a referendum; President James K. Powk signed de wegiswation de next day. A referendum on retrocession was hewd on September 1–2, 1846. The residents of de City of Awexandria voted in favor of de retrocession, 734 to 116; however, de residents of Awexandria County voted against retrocession 106 to 29. Despite de objections of dose wiving in Awexandria County, President Powk certified de referendum and issued a procwamation of transfer on September 7, 1846. However, de Virginia wegiswature did not immediatewy accept de retrocession offer. Virginia wegiswators were concerned dat de peopwe of Awexandria County had not been properwy incwuded in de retrocession proceedings. After monds of debate, de Virginia Generaw Assembwy voted to formawwy accept de retrocession wegiswation on March 13, 1847.[12] In 1852, de Virginia wegiswature voted to incorporate a portion of Awexandria County to make de City of Awexandria, which untiw den had been onwy been considered powiticawwy as a town, uh-hah-hah-hah.[15]

During de American Civiw War, Virginia seceded from de Union as a resuwt of a statewide referendum hewd on May 23, 1861; de voters from Awexandria County approved secession by a vote of 958–48. This vote indicates de degree to which its onwy town, Awexandria, was pro-secession and pro-Confederate. The Union woyawists who wived in ruraw areas outside de town of Awexandria, rejected secession, uh-hah-hah-hah.[16] Awdough Virginia was part of de Confederacy, its controw did not extend aww de way drough Nordern Virginia. In 1862, de United States Congress passed a waw dat provided dat dose districts in which de "insurrection" persisted were to pay deir reaw estate taxes in person, uh-hah-hah-hah.

The property containing de home of Confederate Generaw Robert E. Lee's famiwy at and around Arwington House was subjected to an appraisaw of $26,810, on which a tax of $92.07 was assessed. However, Lee's wife, Mary Anna Custis Lee, de owner of de property, did not pay dis tax in person, uh-hah-hah-hah.[19][20][21] As a resuwt of de 1862 waw, de Federaw government confiscated de property and made it into a miwitary cemetery.[19]

After de war ended and after de deaf of his parents, George Washington Custis Lee, de Lees' ewdest son, initiated a wegaw action in an attempt to recover de property.[19] In December 1882, de U.S. Supreme Court found dat de federaw government had iwwegawwy confiscated de property widout due process and returned de property to Custis Lee whiwe citing de Court's earwier ruwing in de Hunter case.[19][20][21] In 1883, de U.S. Congress purchased de property from Lee for its fair market vawue of $150,000, whereupon de property became a miwitary reservation and eventuawwy Arwington Nationaw Cemetery.[19] Awdough Arwington House is widin de Nationaw Cemetery, de Nationaw Park Service presentwy administers de House and its grounds as a memoriaw to Robert E. Lee.[19]

Confederate incursions from Fawws Church, Minor's Hiww and Upton's Hiww—den securewy in Confederate hands—occurred as far east as de present-day area of Bawwston. On August 17, 1861 an armed force of 600 Confederate sowdiers engaged de 23rd New York Infantry near dat crossroads, kiwwing one. Anoder warge incursion on August 27 invowved between 600 and 800 Confederate sowdiers, which cwashed wif Union sowdiers at Baww's Crossroads, Haww's Hiww and awong de modern-day border between de City of Fawws Church and Arwington, uh-hah-hah-hah. A number of sowdiers on bof sides were kiwwed. However, de territory in present-day Arwington was never successfuwwy captured by Confederate forces.[22]

In 1920, de Virginia wegiswature renamed de area Arwington County to avoid confusion wif de City of Awexandria which had become an independent city in 1870 under de new Virginia Constitution adopted after de Civiw War.

In de 1930s, Hoover Fiewd was estabwished on de present site of de Pentagon; in dat decade, Buckingham, Cowoniaw Viwwage, and oder apartment communities awso opened. Worwd War II brought a boom to de county, but one dat couwd not be met by new construction due to rationing imposed by de war effort.

In February 1959, Arwington County Schoows desegregated raciawwy at Stratford Junior High Schoow (now H-B Woodwawn) wif de admission of bwack pupiws Donawd Deskins, Michaew Jones, Lance Newman, and Gworia Thompson, uh-hah-hah-hah. The U.S. Supreme Court's ruwing in 1954, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas had struck down de previous ruwing on raciaw segregation Pwessy v. Ferguson dat hewd dat faciwities couwd be raciawwy "separate but eqwaw." Brown v. Board of Education ruwed dat "raciawwy separate educationaw faciwities were inherentwy uneqwaw." The ewected Arwington County Schoow Board presumed dat de state wouwd defer to wocawities and in January 1956 announced pwans to integrate Arwington schoows. The state responded by suspending de county's right to an ewected schoow board. The Arwington County Board, de ruwing body for de county, appointed conservatives to de schoow board and bwocked pwans for desegregation, uh-hah-hah-hah. Lawyers for de wocaw chapter of de Nationaw Association for de Advancement of Cowored Peopwe (NAACP) fiwed suit on behawf of a group of parents of bof white and bwack students to end segregation, uh-hah-hah-hah. Bwack pupiws were stiww denied admission to white schoows, but de wawsuit went before de U.S. District Court, which ruwed dat Arwington schoows were to be desegregated by de 1958–59 academic year. In January 1959 bof de U.S. District Court and de Virginia Supreme Court had ruwed against Virginia's massive resistance movement, which opposed raciaw integration, uh-hah-hah-hah.[25] The Arwington County Centraw Library's cowwections incwudes written materiaws as weww as accounts in its Oraw History Project of de desegregation struggwe in de county.[26]

Arwington during de 1960s was undergoing tremendous change after de huge infwux of newcomers in de 1950s. The owd commerciaw districts did not have ampwe off-street parking and many shoppers were taking deir business to new commerciaw centers, such as Parkington and Seven Corners. Suburbs furder out in Virginia and Marywand were expanding, and Arwington's main commerciaw center in Cwarendon was decwining, simiwar to what happened in oder downtown centers. Wif de growf of dese oder suburbs, some pwanners and powiticians pushed for highway expansion, uh-hah-hah-hah. The Federaw Aid Highway Act of 1956 wouwd have enabwed dat expansion in Arwington, uh-hah-hah-hah. However, de administrator of de Nationaw Capitaw Transportation Agency, economist C. Darwin Stowzenbach, saw de benefits of rapid transit for de region and oversaw pwans for a bewow ground rapid transit system, now de Washington Metro, which incwuded two wines in Arwington, uh-hah-hah-hah. Initiaw pwans cawwed for what became de Orange Line to parawwew I-66, which wouwd have mainwy benefited Fairfax County. Arwington County officiaws cawwed for de stations in Arwington to be pwaced awong de decaying commerciaw corridor between Rosswyn and Bawwston dat incwuded Cwarendon, uh-hah-hah-hah. A new regionaw transportation pwanning entity was formed, de Washington, Metropowitan Transit Audority. Arwington officiaws renewed deir push for a route dat benefited de commerciaw corridor awong Wiwson Bouwevard, which prevaiwed. There were neighborhood concerns dat dere wouwd be high density devewopment awong de corridor dat wouwd disrupt de character of owd neighborhoods. Wif popuwation in de county decwining, powiticaw weaders saw economic devewopment as a wong range benefit. Citizen input and county pwanners came up wif a workabwe compromise, wif some wimits on devewopment. The two wines in Arwington were inaugurated in 1977. The Orange Line's creation was more probwematic dan de Bwue Line's. The Bwue Line served de Pentagon and Nationaw Airport, and boosted de commerciaw devewopment of Crystaw City and Pentagon City. Property vawues awong de Metro wines increased significantwy for bof residentiaw and commerciaw property. The transformation of Cwarendon is particuwarwy striking, wif its transformation from a downtown shopping area, ensuing decay, home to a vibrant Vietnamese business community in de 1970s and 1980s known as Littwe Saigon, and now is a vibrant urban viwwage. Arwington's carefuw pwanning for de Metro has transformed de county and has become a modew revitawization for owder suburbs.[27][28]

Aeriaw view of a growf pattern in Arwington County, Virginia. High density, mixed use devewopment is often concentrated widin 1/4 to 1/2 miwe from de County's Metroraiwrapid transit stations, such as in Rosswyn, Courdouse, and Cwarendon (shown in red from upper weft to wower right).

According to de U.S. Census Bureau, de county has a totaw area of 26.1 sqware miwes (67.6 km2), of which 26.0 sqware miwes (67.3 km2) is wand and 0.1 sqware miwes (0.3 km2) (0.4%) is water.[30] It is de smawwest county by area in Virginia and is de smawwest sewf-governing county in de United States.[31] About 4.6 sqware miwes (11.9 km2) of de county is federaw property. The county is roughwy in de shape of a rectangwe 4 miwes (6.4 km) by 6 miwes (9.7 km), wif de smaww end swanting in a nordwest-soudeast direction, uh-hah-hah-hah. It has no incorporated areas. Its county seat is de census-designated pwace (CDP) of Arwington,[32] which is coterminous wif de boundaries of de county; however, de county courdouse and most government offices are wocated in de Courdouse neighborhood.

In 2002, Arwington received de EPA's Nationaw Award for Smart Growf Achievement for "Overaww Excewwence in Smart Growf."[35] In 2005, de County impwemented an affordabwe housing ordinance dat reqwires most devewopers to contribute significant affordabwe housing resources, eider in units or drough a cash contribution, in order to obtain de highest awwowabwe amounts of increased buiwding density in new devewopment projects, most of which are pwanned near Metroraiw station areas.[36]

A number of de county's residentiaw neighborhoods and warger garden-stywe apartment compwexes are wisted in de Nationaw Register of Historic Pwaces and/or designated under de County government's zoning ordinance as wocaw historic preservation districts.[37][38] These incwude Arwington Viwwage, Arwington Forest, Ashton Heights, Buckingham, Cherrydawe, Cwaremont, Cowoniaw Viwwage, Fairwington, Lyon Park, Lyon Viwwage, Maywood, Nauck, Penrose, Waverwy Hiwws and Westover.[39][40] Many of Arwington County's neighborhoods participate in de Arwington County government's Neighborhood Conservation Program (NCP).[41] Each of dese neighborhoods has a Neighborhood Conservation Pwan dat describes de neighborhood's characteristics, history and recommendations for capitaw improvement projects dat de County government funds drough de NCP.[42]

Low-rise residentiaw structures hewp make up de reaw estate inventory in Arwington, uh-hah-hah-hah.

There were 86,352 househowds out of which 19.30% had chiwdren under de age of 18 wiving wif dem, 35.30% were married coupwes wiving togeder, 7.00% had a femawe househowder wif no husband present, and 54.50% were non-famiwies. 40.80% of aww househowds were made up of individuaws and 7.30% had someone wiving awone who was 65 years of age or owder. The average househowd size was 2.15 and de average famiwy size was 2.96.

Famiwies headed by singwe parents was de wowest in de DC area, under 6%, as estimated by de Census Bureau for de years 2006–2008. For de same years, de percentage of peopwe estimated to be wiving awone was de dird highest in de DC area, at 45%.[55] In 2009, Arwington was highest in de Washington DC Metropowitan area for percentage of peopwe who were singwe – 70.9%. 14.3% were married. 14.8% had famiwies.[4] In 2014 Arwington had de 2nd highest concentration of roommates after San Francisco among de 50 wargest U.S. cities.[56]

According to a 2007 estimate, de median income for a househowd in de county was $94,876, and de median income for a famiwy was $127,179.[57] Mawes had a median income of $51,011 versus $41,552 for femawes. The per capita income for de county was $37,706. About 5.00% of famiwies and 7.80% of de popuwation were bewow de poverty wine, incwuding 9.10% of dose under age 18 and 7.00% of dose age 65 or over.

The age distribution was 16.50% under 18, 10.40% from 18 to 24, 42.40% from 25 to 44, 21.30% from 45 to 64, and 9.40% who were 65 or owder. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 femawes dere were 101.50 mawes. For every 100 femawes age 18 and over, dere were 100.70 mawes.

CNN Money ranked Arwington as de most educated city in 2006 wif 35.7% of residents having hewd graduate degrees. Awong wif five oder counties in Nordern Virginia, Arwington ranked among de twenty American counties wif de highest median househowd income in 2006.[58] In 2009, de county was second in de nation (after nearby Loudoun County) for de percentage of peopwe ages 25–34 earning over $100,000 annuawwy (8.82% of de popuwation).[4][59] In August 2011, CNN Money ranked Arwington sevenf in de country in its wisting of "Best Pwaces for de Rich and Singwe."[60]

In 2008, 20.3% of de popuwation did not have medicaw heawf insurance.[61] In 2010, AIDS prevawence was 341.5 per 100,000 popuwation, uh-hah-hah-hah. This was eight times de rate of nearby Loudoun County and one-qwarter de rate of de District of Cowumbia.[62]

Crime statistics for 2009 incwuded de report of 2 homicides, 15 forcibwe rapes, 149 robberies, 145 incidents of or aggravated assauwt, 319 burgwaries, 4,140 incidents of warceny, and 297 reports of vehicwe deft. This was a reduction in aww categories from de previous year.[63]

According to a 2016 study by Bankrate.com, Arwington is de best pwace to retire, wif nearby Awexandria coming in at second pwace. Criteria of de study incwuded cost of wiving, rates of viowent and property crimes, wawkabiwity, heawf care qwawity, state and wocaw tax rates, weader, wocaw cuwture and weww-being for senior citizens.[64]

The county is governed by a five-person County Board; members are ewected at-warge on staggered four-year terms. They appoint a county manager, who is de chief executive of de County Government. Like aww Virginia counties, Arwington has five ewected constitutionaw officers: a cwerk of court, a commissioner of revenue, a commonweawf's attorney, a sheriff, and a treasurer. The budget for fiscaw year 2009 was $1.177 biwwion, uh-hah-hah-hah.[67]

For de wast two decades, Arwington has been a Democratic stronghowd at nearwy aww wevews of government.[68] However, during a speciaw ewection in Apriw 2014, a Repubwican running as an independent, John Vihstadt, captured a County Board seat, defeating Democrat Awan Howze 57% to 41%; he became de first non-Democratic board member in fifteen years.[69] This was in warge part a voter response to pwans to raise property taxes to fund severaw warge projects, incwuding a streetcar and an aqwatics center. County Board Member Libby Garvey, in Apriw 2014, resigned from de Arwington Democratic Committee after supporting Vihstadt's campaign over Howze's.[70] Eight monds water, in November's generaw ewection, Vihstadt won a fuww term; winning by 56% to 44%.[71] This is de first time since 1983 dat a non-Democrat won a County Board generaw ewection, uh-hah-hah-hah.[72]

At de federaw wevew, Arwington was once a GOP stronghowd, supporting de Repubwican candidate in every ewection, but one, from 1948 to 1980. However, in 1984, it supported Democrat Wawter Mondawe, despite Repubwican Ronawd Reagan's ewectoraw wandswide. It has gone Democratic in every presidentiaw ewection since den, uh-hah-hah-hah. In fact, in 2016, Repubwican candidate Donawd Trump received de fewest number of raw votes in de county since Adwai Stevenson II in 1956. Arwington is part of Virginia's 8f congressionaw district, represented by Democrat Don Beyer.

Arwington has consistentwy had de wowest unempwoyment rate of any jurisdiction in Virginia.[86] The unempwoyment rate in Arwington was 4.2% in August 2009.[87] 60% of office space in de Rosswyn-Bawwston corridor is weased to government agencies and government contractors.[88] There were an estimated 205,300 jobs in de county in 2008. About 28.7% of dese were wif de federaw, state or wocaw government; 19.1% technicaw and professionaw; 28.9% accommodation, food and oder services.[89]

In October 2008, BusinessWeek ranked Arwington as de safest city in which to weader a recession, wif a 49.4% share of jobs in "strong industries".[90] In October 2009, during de economic downturn, de unempwoyment in de county reached 4.2%. This was de wowest in de state, which averaged 6.6% for de same time period, and among de wowest in de nation, which averaged 9.5% for de same time.[91]

In 2010, dere were an estimated 90,842 residences in de county.[92] In 2000, de median singwe famiwy home price was $262,400. About 123 homes were worf $1 miwwion or more. In 2008, de median home was worf $586,200. 4,721 houses, about 10% of aww stand-awone homes, were worf $1 miwwion or more.[93]

In 2010, dere were 0.9 percent of de homes in forecwosure. This was de wowest rate in de DC area.[94]

Arwington House was named after de Custis famiwy's homestead on Virginia's Eastern Shore. It is associated wif de famiwies of Washington, Custis, and Lee. Begun in 1802 and compweted in 1817, it was buiwt by George Washington Parke Custis. After his fader died, young Custis was raised by his grandmoder and her second husband, de first US PresidentGeorge Washington, at Mount Vernon. Custis, a far-sighted agricuwturaw pioneer, painter, pwaywright, and orator, was interested in perpetuating de memory and principwes of George Washington, uh-hah-hah-hah. His house became a "treasury" of Washington heirwooms.

In 1804, Custis married Mary Lee Fitzhugh. Their onwy chiwd to survive infancy was Mary Anna Randowph Custis, born in 1808. Young Robert E. Lee, whose moder was a cousin of Mrs. Custis, freqwentwy visited Arwington, uh-hah-hah-hah. Two years after graduating from West Point, Lieutenant Lee married Mary Custis at Arwington on June 30, 1831. For 30 years, Arwington House was home to de Lees. They spent much of deir married wife travewing between U.S. Army duty stations and Arwington, where six of deir seven chiwdren were born, uh-hah-hah-hah. They shared dis home wif Mary's parents, de Custis famiwy.

When George Washington Parke Custis died in 1857, he weft de Arwington estate to Mrs. Lee for her wifetime and afterward to de Lees' ewdest son, George Washington Custis Lee.

The U.S. government confiscated Arwington House and 200 acres (81 ha) of ground immediatewy from de wife of Generaw Robert E. Lee during de Civiw War. The government designated de grounds as a miwitary cemetery on June 15, 1864, by Secretary of WarEdwin M. Stanton. In 1882, after many years in de wower courts, de matter of de ownership of Arwington Nationaw Cemetery was brought before de United States Supreme Court. The Court decided dat de property rightfuwwy bewonged to de Lee famiwy. The United States Congress den appropriated de sum of $150,000 for de purchase of de property from de Lee famiwy.

Veterans from aww de nation's wars are buried in de cemetery, from de American Revowution drough de miwitary actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pre-Civiw War dead were re-interred after 1900.

The buiwding is pentagon-shaped in pwan and houses about 23,000 miwitary and civiwian empwoyees and about 3,000 non-defense support personnew. It has five fwoors and each fwoor has five ring corridors. The Pentagon's principaw waw enforcement arm is de United States Pentagon Powice, de agency dat protects de Pentagon and various oder DoD jurisdictions droughout de Nationaw Capitaw Region, uh-hah-hah-hah.

Buiwt during de earwy years of Worwd War II, it is stiww dought of as one of de most efficient office buiwdings in de worwd. It has 17.5 miwes (28 km) of corridors, yet it takes onwy seven minutes or so to wawk between any two points in de buiwding.

It was buiwt from 680,000 short tons (620,000 t) of sand and gravew dredged from de nearby Potomac River dat were processed into 435,000 cubic yards (330,000 m³) of concrete and mowded into de pentagon shape. Very wittwe steew was used in its design due to de needs of de war effort.

The open-air centraw pwaza in de Pentagon is de worwd's wargest "no-sawute, no-cover" area (where U.S. servicemembers need not wear hats nor sawute). The snack bar in de center is informawwy known as de Ground Zero Cafe, a nickname originating during de Cowd War when de Pentagon was targeted by Soviet nucwear missiwes.

In 2007, de county audorized EnviroCAB, a new taxi company, to operate excwusivewy wif a hybrid-ewectric fweet of 50 vehicwes and awso issued permits for existing companies to add 35 hybrid cabs to deir fweets. As operations began in 2008, EnvironCab became de first aww-hybrid taxicab fweet in de United States and de company not onwy offset de emissions generated by its fweet of hybrids, but awso de eqwivawent emissions of 100 non-hybrid taxis in service in de metropowitan area.[105][106] The green taxi expansion was part of a county campaign known as Fresh AIRE, or Arwington Initiative to Reduce Emissions, dat aimed to cut production of greenhouse gases from county buiwdings and vehicwes by 10 percent by 2012.[105]

Arwington has an ewected five-person schoow board whose members are ewected to four-year terms. Virginia waw does not permit powiticaw parties to pwace schoow board candidates on de bawwot.[108]

Position

Name

First Ewection

Next Ewection

Chair

Nancy Van Doren

2014

2018

Vice Chair

Barbara Kanninen

2014

2018

Member

James Lander

2009

2017

Member

Emma Viowand-Sánchez

2008

2016

Member

Reid Gowdstein

2015

2019

Through an agreement wif Fairfax County Pubwic Schoows approved by de schoow board in 1999, up to 26 students residing in Arwington per grade wevew may be enrowwed at de Thomas Jefferson High Schoow for Science and Technowogy in Fairfax at a cost to Arwington of approximatewy $8,000 per student. For de first time in 2006, more students (36) were offered admission in de sewective high schoow dan awwowed by de previouswy estabwished enrowwment cap.[109]

Marymount University is de onwy university wif its main campus wocated in Arwington, uh-hah-hah-hah. Founded in 1950 by de Rewigious of de Sacred Heart of Mary as Marymount Cowwege of Virginia, bof its main campus and its Bawwston Center are wocated on Norf Gwebe Road, wif a shuttwe service connecting de two.

In June 2011, Virginia Tech opened de Virginia Tech Research Center - Arwington in Bawwston, providing a teaching and research base for graduate students in computer research and engineering to interact wif organizations and research agencies in de Nationaw Capitaw area.[110]

Finwey, John Norviwwe Gibson (1952-07-01). Progress Report of de Nordern Virginia University Center(PDF). Archived from de originaw(PDF) on 2017. "The report dat fowwows is a progress report on de Nordern Virginia University Center since its beginnings in 1949 by its Locaw Director, Professor J. N. G. Finwey." George B. Zehmer, Director Extension Division University of Virginia